Canterlot, Noon
Jason slowly walked the halls of Canterlot Castle toward Celestia's chambers. His palms were slick with sweat at the thought of the conversation he knew he would have to have with her. All too soon, he found himself in front of her doors. He turned to one of the guards stationed there.
"I, uh... I'm here to see the Princess. I need to talk to her about Princess Luna." He managed to say. The guard nodded, and knocked on the door before sticking his head in and softly speaking to Celestia. He returned his head and motioned Jason to go inside. As Jason walked past him, however, he found that the guard had hold of his arm.
"Good luck." He said. Jason nodded his thanks and went inside.
???
I think that went well. The Nightmare said, it's voice echoing in Luke's mind as they flew over the landscape, propelled by their stolen wings.
"Hell yeah it went well!" Luke said. "I mean, look at us. We absorbed the power of a demigod! We're practically unstoppable, now."
Don't become overconfident, boy. The Nightmare said. I absorbed her once before, remember, and I was still beaten.
"Yeah, but that was because you literally stood there and let them hit you with the element thingamajiggers. We'll be smarter than that this time."
True, overconfidence is a weakness of mine. The Nightmare said. We will have to be careful not to underestimate our enemies.
"Although, from what we've heard, they don't have the elements anymore anyway." Luke said.
True, but remember, they did not need them to defeat Tirek, and his mission was similar to ours.
"Fair point. By the way, what exactly are we doing?" Luke asked. "I'm flying by the seat of my pants at the moment."
Our immediate objective is to amass power. The Nightmare said. I have sensed a large concentration of it nearby. We're headed there to assimilate whatever it is.
"Cool. So, where is it?" Luke said.
It is in an area that I believe the ponies call 'The Badlands'.
Canterlot
Jason sat in his room, staring at the ceiling. Sighing, he got up and headed to the door. Upon exiting, he saw Flashpoint, a pegasus guard he had become friends with, walking past his room.
"Hey Flash." He said. "You on duty?" Flashpoint shook his head in reply.
"Nah, I just finished my shift. You wanna hang out?" He said. Jason nodded in reply. As they walked out of the castle toward the gardens, Flashpoint looked at Jason quizzically.
"Is something wrong, Jason? You seem kind of down." He said. Jason sighed.
"Have you heard about Princess Luna?" He asked. Flashpoint nodded grimly. "Yeah, well, I was kinda there for that. Apparently, no-one else survived. I guess I just feel kinda responsible for it."
"Dude, that's stupid." Flashpoint said. "It's not like you could've done anything. If that thing killed a Princess, no offence, but there's no way you could've stood up to it. Don't beat yourself up over it."
"Thanks, man." Jason said. He fished his cigarettes out of his pocket, having bought another packet earlier that day. He lit one and inhaled from it deeply.
"So, I heard you talked with Princess Celestia today. How'd that go?" Jason sighed heavily.
"Not well. Not well at all." He said. "It was pretty one-sided. She wouldn't say anything, she just kept crying. She must feel terrible. I'm surprised she's still finding the strength to raise the sun." Flashpoint shuddered.
"Don't even joke about that. If the sun stopped coming up every morning, we'd all freeze to death in a few days." He said. "Still, if she's so despondent, is she still up to the task of running the country?"
"I mean nothing bad about her, but absolutely not." Jason said. "Apparently, she's left it up to her inner council to run the country until she feels okay again. How long that'll take, though, I have no idea."
Just then, a guard came around a corner in front of them.
"Jason the human." He said. "The Council requests your presence immediately. Follow me." It was phrased as a request, but Jason knew there was no denying the council.
"'Kay." He said. Turning to Flashpoint, he added "Sorry, we'll have to hang out later."
Flashpoint shrugged. "Don't worry about it. Go do your thing." He said, and walked away
Jason nodded. "Lead the way." He said to the guard.
Jason entered a dimly lit room. Looking around, he saw that it was occupied by eight ponies around a large, circular table.
"Ah, Jason." Said one of them. "You're here, good. Allow me to fill you in on what we know."
Jason nodded, taking a seat at one of the low chairs around the table. The same pony from before, who Jason assumed was the head councillor, spoke again.
"We have several scouts following The Nightmare. They began tailing it after Luna's death. As of now, we have little information on its goals, or targets. The last time it was free, as Nightmare Moon, it tried to bring about eternal night. However, this was because of Luna being it's main host, and her pent-up feelings of resentment toward Celestia and the general populace. With Luke as it's host, we have very little idea of what it will do."
Jason inhaled deeply from his cigarette. "And I'm guessing you want me to try and predict his actions, right?" He said. When the rest of the council nodded, he grimaced. "Well, where is he?" He asked.
One of the other members spoke up. "The Nightmare is currently on a course toward the Badlands." She said, indicating a map that she splayed out on the table.
"And what's in the badlands?" He asked. The same council member responded.
"Not much. The only thing of note is that, somewhere in that area, is the main hive of the changelings."
Jason considered this for a moment, taking another puff of his cigarette. "These changelings." He said. "Tell me about them."
A different council member spoke this time. "The changelings are like half-insect, half-pony beings. The Queen controls the lesser changelings like a hive mind. They feed on love, and can change their appearance to any form they desire. Not too long ago, their Queen, Chrysalis, replaced Princess Cadence. She then used her fiancée's love to become so powerful that she was able to overpower Celestia, and nearly took over Equestria."
Jason snapped his fingers. "That's it!" He said. "Luke is heading to the Changeling hive."
"Whatever for?" The head councillor said. "What could he stand to gain from the changelings? Is he going to form an alliance with them?" Jason shook his head.
"Worse." He said. "When The Nightmare killed Luna, it didn't merely kill her; It absorbed her. Gained her power. Before it absorbed her it didn't have wings, or a horn. It stole them form Luna. And after it did that, it absorbed everypony else that was present. My best guess is that It's trying to collect as much power as possible. For what, I don't know, but if this Queen is strong enough to overcome Celestia, then he's going to want a piece of that. This isn't something we can allow to happen. We need to warn this Chrysalis of what is coming."
"Preposterous." Said another member of the council. "The Changeling nation doesn't exactly have the best of relations with Equestria, you know."
"Yeah, you just told me they tried to invade not too long ago." He said. "But The Nightmare is everyone's enemy, not just ours. Back on Earth, we have a saying: 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'. If this Chrysalis cares at all about the survival of her and her nation, then she'll join us."
The head councillor nodded. "Very well. We shall send an envoy to Chrysalis. It would probably be for the best if you accompanied them, Jason. It would help to have some non-ponies present."
Jason nodded. "We should get going as soon as possible. From this map, Canterlot is closer to the the Badlands then Hollow Shades, so if we hurry we should be able to reach them before The Nightmare does."
"Very well. I'll select a team of our fastest pegasi and have them ready to ship out within two hours." The head councillor said. "This meeting is adjourned."